Ohio Gamma Enjoys Carlson Leadership Academy Recognitions

Carlson Leadership Academy

The Midwestern Carlson Leadership Academy was held Feb. 6-8, 2009 in Chicago, Ill. Over 600 undergraduates and alumni were in attendance. Sig Ep Chapters from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas were represented. Ohio Gamma was well represented with 21 undergraduates participating plus one alumnus, Mike Lockwood. These Academies consist of a series of small group leaning sessions and discussions with your undergraduate peers and typically lead by an Alumni and/or senior undergraduate on various aspects of fraternity operations, e.g. recruitment, financial, programming, membership development, Chaplain, and President. The Alumni Volunteers also met in small group sessions to discuss and share successes with volunteer recruitment, Board operations, alumni relations activities, alumni newsletters and fundraising events.

Numerous awards were distributed during the Academy. Ohio Gamma won the 90+ Manpower Award and the Phi Beta Kappa Wheelhouse Award for a Chapter GPA in excess of 3.15 – fall quarter was 3.36. On the alumni side, Mike Lockwood was selected the District 13 (Ohio) Volunteer of the Year Award for 2009 for his work on the Centennial Committee for Ohio Gamma’s 100the Anniversary Celebrations during 2008. Mike was recommended by the Undergraduate Chapter and selected from a group of Alumni Volunteers for the Ohio Sig Ep Chapters by Marcus Robinson, the District Governor for District 13. Mike was most appreciate of this honor but wanted to make sure it was shared by all of the members of his 2008 Centennial Committee.

Alumnus Shares His SigEp Pride with Chapter Leaders

as told by: Doug Hange '05

(pictured: Hange left, and Mike Repasky right)

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday, I had the distinct pleasure of having dinner with two of Ohio Gamma's finest. Those two brothers were Nathan Weber and Mike Repasky. Both have been long time friends and are now leaders of the fraternity. I took them to dinner at one of my favorite Ohio State establishments, Eddie George's Grill on High Street. The guys shared with me the many great things the chapter was accomplishing, such as increasing their chapter GPA towards a 3.5 average, winning athletic championships, and branching out to have social gatherings with different sororities such as the Kappas and the DGs. I was very proud of the guys for helping to increase the chapter count to over 90 plus quality men who believe in the principles of virtue, diligence and brotherly love. More importantly, they have found men who strive to be leaders, gentlemen, scholars and athletes. A great Ohio Gamma, Dennis Kaps, once said, "You must recruit men greater than yourself." I honestly feel this discipline has been followed during recruitment. Nate and Mike gave much of the credit to fellow brother Ryan Dressler, who was VP of Recruitment. They also informed me Ryan had been chosen by SigEp Nationals for a Regional Director position after graduation.

I challenged the gentleman that evening at dinner with one task. I asked them to continue to work on a mentoring program with alumni. I feel that is one piece of the pie that would be beneficial to the chapter and alumni. Unfortunately I no longer live in the Columbus area as I live and work for the Ford Motor Company in Orlando, FL, but I still like to keep in touch with my fellow brothers. I wish them all the best of luck in 2008 and look to hear many great things that make me proud every day to say I'm a Sig Ep.

Alumni Board Meeting - January 2008

The Alumni Board's quarterly gathering for January 2008 was attended by:
President: John "CJ" Waggoner '70
Treasurer: Ken Butler '70
Facilities Mgr: John Barta '70
Webmaster: Brad Griffith '04
Mentoring Chair: Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge '05
Secretary: Scott Phillips Jr. '05
Foundation President: Bob Barnett '71
and a dozen undergraduates...

The meeting was very efficiently run by CJ, who is now operating in his second term as President of the AB. The finances of the chapter, which we cannot post publicly on this site, are in better standing than ever. We learned about the new standards of physical fitness being put into effect for the undergraduates that includes a one-mile run, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and one-legged squats. Flexibility is also a key aspect of the fitness testing. High GPAs and good fitness in our Ohio Gamma chapter certainly personify the Balanced Man.

The rest of the meeting can be summarized in bullet points.

• Alumni Programming is looking forward to the Queen of Hearts Ball on February 9th.
• Alumni Communications is currently producing the February version of the Ohio Gamma Red Door Newsletter completing three years of timely publications!
• Chapter Standards reported a GPA of 3.29 for Fall Quarter which placed 3rd among fraternities and was shy of the 3.5 goal.
• Chapter Recruitment reported a current membership of 95 brothers including 19 men who just joined in January.
• Alumni Mentoring is beginning an aggressive campaign to pair alumni with undergraduates in need of community mentoring to help them grow and prepare for post-college life.

Next meeting TBA